Untimely Misfortune
by TheDegenerates
Summary: Satoshi and the group return to Pallet Town for a surprise party for Hikari. However, something happens which sends Satoshi and Hikari to a strange land filled with wild Pokemon. They are forced to travel without any of their Pokemon...DP Fiction
1. The Basics

UNTIMELY MISFORTUNE (Former Title: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl: Time Traveling Peril)

Warning: reference to blood, death, and mild language is used. (Actually, not much death, and language that you would hear in The Simpsons. Ex. "Damn it! Crap! Son of a... Damn it to Hell!")

Note: Only the names of the main characters will be in Japanese, and all the Pokemon names will be in English.

Also, each chapter is a different day. Therefore, some will be short, while some will be long, depending on the day's events.

Characteristics, Satoshi:

Quite dumb, and never thinks before acting, regrets many of his hasty actions, can not take insults. If insulted, he will attempt to fight the person who insulted him. He is also willing to sacrifice himself for the safety of his friends or family. He does not care about what other people think about his appearance. Physically strong, he will not fall into illnesses, but his lack of intelligence might cause him some problems...

Characteristics, Hikari:

Sometimes thinks before acting, mostly thinks during her actions. She cares a lot about her appearance and will not tolerate insults about her appearance or damage to her hair or clothes. She has an acute sense of fashion. She does not take insults very well and can not stand being ignored. If insulted or ignored, she will lose all thoughts and start arguing. Quite intelligent, as she thinks and plans out her actions when stuck in a predicament. However, she is not physically strong, therefore will fall to illness pretty easily.

Timeline: Right after the time of the 10th movie.

Ages: 4 years boost from their ages from the mentioned timeline. (Just for the hell of it)

Current Location: En route to Pallet Town.


	2. Chapter 1: Relaxing at Home

Chapter 1: Relaxing at Home. (Former Title: Returning to Pallet Town.)

Instead of going to the next city, Satoshi and the group decided to take a break as they headed towards Pallet Town for a week of rest. Although that was the excuse that Satoshi told Hikari, that was not the real reason. After asking her mother for the date of Hikari's birthday, Satoshi and Takeshi called and told Satoshi's mother about the surprise party for Hikari. Hikari wasn't aware of this secret party so she was partly disappointed to take a break from her adventure through Sinnoh, but also partly excited to meet all of Satoshi's other Pokemon.

_'Oh, well, I guess it will be better to tell Satoshi that it's my birthday at his house than in some grassy field...'_ Hikari thought to herself as she was waiting on the ship that will take her and the group back to Pallet Town. Hikari's 14th birthday was still 4 days away, and until that day, the group the was going to stay at Satoshi's house. Although they left at early in the morning, they arrived in Pallet Town at around 7 pm and headed straight for Prof. Oak's lab. The group went outside to the massive back yard where all of Satoshi's Pokemon were staying. Once the Pokemon saw Satoshi, they all rushed towards him.

"It's great to see you guys too, but could you get off for a sec? I can't breathe..." choked Satoshi under the weight of his Pokemon.

"Oh, so that's a Bayleef? That's a Cyndaquil? That's a Totodile? Wow, you caught so many cute and rare Pokemon, Satoshi." said Hikari while checking their data with her Pokedex. She then sent out all of her Pokemon and let them play. Takeshi and Satoshi did the same.

"Hey, why don't we go get something to eat? My stomach is growling." Satoshi complained after letting Pikachu join the other Pokemon.

The group went to Satoshi's house, ate dinner, which Satoshi's mother made extra delicious because it has been a while since she saw her son. After that nice meal, Satoshi and the group went to sleep. Satoshi's room was enough to hold all three of them and their sleeping bags. Satoshi and Hikari had to change their clothes in the bathroom one at a time.

Satoshi slept in his bed, Hikari's sleeping bag was right next to it, and Takeshi's sleeping bag was next to Hikari's. All three fell asleep, eagerly waiting for the next days to come...


	3. Chapter 2: Change of Time

Chapter 2: Change of Time. (Former Title: Time Traveling.)

Hikari suddenly woke up the next morning because she felt something heavy and hard hit her. She opened her eyes to see Satoshi on top of her, with his knee driven into her ribs. He had fallen off the bed and since Hikari's sleeping bag was near the bed, he landed on her. She groaned in pain while suppressing her urge to yell at the top of her lungs, because she didn't want to disturb the silence, and also because of the fact that she couldn't breathe. She squeezed her way out of her sleeping bag after managing to push Satoshi's knee off of her.

Satoshi was still asleep, so Hikari just crept to the bathroom, changed her clothes, washed her hair and face, and fixed her hairdo. Once she was done, she walked out of the bathroom and crept towards Satoshi's room. Her left side was still aching from Satoshi's knee drop, but she ignored it and reminded herself that there were only 3 days left until her birthday.

After about a minute or two, Takeshi woke up and him and Hikari exchanged greetings. Seeing how everyone was up, except Satoshi, Hikari started to take revenge on him for nearly breaking her ribs with his knee. She walked over to him and started to shake him by the shoulders very aggressively (by then Satoshi had flipped over facing the ceiling while still snoring). Hikari instantly regretted performing such an action as it caused Satoshi to sit up and accidentally slam his head into hers at an extremely fast speed. Although Satoshi didn't feel anything, Hikari felt as if her head has been rammed against a brick wall.

"Wha... hey Hikari, what's wrong? What happened?" Satoshi questioned once he noticed that Hikari groaning and rolling on the floor, with her hands on her forehead. But before she could explode on him, Satoshi's mother called for breakfast, and Satoshi ran downstairs to eat. Takeshi went after him, walking downstairs.

Hikari was dizzy from the head butt and was trying to regain balance while she cursed the 2 boys who ditched her. She slowly and carefully walked downstairs, trying not to fall down. By the time she was downstairs, Satoshi had already finished eating and ran past her to brush his teeth and get ready for the day. Hikari sighed and went into the kitchen to eat.

After a few minutes, Satoshi finished getting ready for the day and ran downstairs, and he noticed that Hikari had an ice pack on her forehead. She glared at him, but apparently, Satoshi didn't see the murderous look and went on telling her how ridiculous she looked.

_'Damn you... because of you, this has been one Hell of a bad day for me already...'_ Hikari thought to herself, while still glaring at Satoshi.

After a while, Hikari decided that she was alright, so the group left for Prof. Oak's lab to see their Pokemon. The morning air of Pallet Town was very cold and the wind was quite strong. Hikari shivered; after all, she was wearing a short skirt, a thin tanktop, and a thin vest. Her lips were beginning to turn blue and she had goose bumps all over her body. But no one noticed... Once again. she silently cursed the 2 boys.

After a short while, the group arrived at Prof. Oak's back yard and noticed that all of their Pokemon were already having fun. The air was no longer cold; in fact, the air had started to become fairly warm. Hikari still felt depressed from how the day went so far. Unfortunately, the misfortune didn't end. Satoshi, after running around with his Pokemon, apparently had an urge to pull a prank on Hikari. He gathered his Pokemon and planned out his prank. He walked over to Hikari and started to talk to her about his shiny Noctowl. He told it to come over and to let Hikari hold it.

"Noctowl, Hypnosis..." he whispered silently to his shiny bird Pokemon. It's eyes started to turn red and so did Hikari's sapphire blue eyes as well. She quickly fell asleep and fell forwards. While she was asleep, Satoshi told Pikachu to use Thunderwave on Hikari's hair, completely messing it up. Satoshi then told his Totodile to use Water Gun to wake her up.

"Are you OK? You fell asleep all of a sudden." he told her as he silently ordered his Glalie to use Icy Wind to freeze her wet and messed up hair.

Hikari stood up and rubbed the back of her head to realize that her hair has been completely messed up. Assuming it was Satoshi's doing, she gritted her teeth and tried to straighten her hair, only to realize that she couldn't because it was frozen. Before she had time to explode on him, Satoshi ordered his Cyndaquil to use Flamethrower in an 'attempt' to thaw out her hair. Hikari quickly dodged the blast, but the tip of her hat got burned and her hair was defrosted from the heat. She was completely outraged at the fact that the day had been terrible for her, that her hat has been burned, and that Satoshi had the nerves to perform such a prank. Her rage peaked and started to chase Satoshi, while cursing him, but Satoshi laughed, further angering her. Takeshi looked on, thinking that he might have to intervene, but afraid that Hikari's flaming rage might affect him. He thought that Satoshi will deserve what Hikari might do to him, but was also afraid that things might get seriously out of control.

While running, Satoshi began to think that maybe he has gone too far. Only if Hikari stopped chasing him, he could start to make her feel better. His thoughts sort of came true, because as Satoshi turned around to see how far Hikari was from him, she suddenly tripped over something. Satoshi's Bayleef, seeing how her master was in trouble, used Vine Whip to trip the person seemingly trying to kill him. Takeshi was afraid that Bayleef's interference was not the proper way to calm Hikari down, but surprisingly, Hikari didn't get up and start chasing again. She just sat on the ground, sighing heavily. The fire in her eyes seemed to have died. She slowly stood up and started to slowly walk towards the lab. She went to the bathroom and started to fix her messed up long blue hair. She looked sadly at her reflection, then she smiled. She just realized that by silently and slowly walking away, she made Satoshi feel extremely guilty.

_'Hmmm... I guess that sort of counts as payback...'_ She thought to herself as she combed through her hair. _'But, I don't think that's enough. Time to make him feel as if he ruined my life. Maybe that'll teach him to pull a prank on my expense...'_

Hikari walked out of the lab after finishing fixing her hair. She saw Satoshi standing where he was when Hikari went back in the lab, looking guilty as ever. As soon as he saw her come out of the lab, he ran towards her and started to beg for forgiveness.

"Hey Hikari, I'm sorry about the prank that I pulled on you. I don't know what I was thinking...can you forgive me, please?" he begged. He looked so guilty and depressed that Hikari started to feel bad about making him this guilty. She instantly changed her mind of making him feel worse, because she thought that he suffered enough.

"Oh, it's okay. I'm sorry about me making you feel bad though. I just had a terrible day so far..." she started to say when Satoshi interrupted. "A bad day? It was just one prank! I know that you didn't like it, but you can't say that you're having a bad day from that!" he said, obviously confused.

"Well, I woke up this morning because _you_ fell off the bed, and rammed your knee in my ribs. Then, when I tried to wake you up, you slammed your head against mine very hard! I had to get an ice pack on my head because it hurt so bad and I started to have a headache. On top of that, you said that I looked ridiculous for having that ice pack on my head. To top it all off, you pulled a prank on me and ended up totally messing up my hair, _and_ burning my expensive hat!" she replied with rising intensity.

Satoshi's last response fired Hikari up again. Her sapphire blue eyes once again had the fiery look, but the fire died down again after Hikari saw Satoshi's reaction to her outbreak. He looked even guiltier than before; so much that he seemed afraid to talk or even look at her. He looked at the ground, not saying anything.

"Well, it's okay. I'm sure that you didn't know that you made my day to crappy. After all, you were asleep and didn't know what you were doing!" Hikari explained, trying desperately to comfort Satoshi once she realized her mistake. Satoshi still looked very depressed. He slowly and silently walked back to where Takeshi was sitting and sat down near him. Hikari felt horrible for making Satoshi react like that. She quickly ran over to him and sat down in front of him. However, Satoshi still avoided all eye contact with her and continued to look at the ground.

"Do you want to have a practice battle with me? You can use any Pokemon you want..." asked Hikari, desperate to cheer him up. "Satoshi, please cheer up! You didn't ruin my day! It was an accident!" she exclaimed, after receiving no response from him. She started to become angry because she still didn't receive any.

"Hey, why don't we eat lunch? It has been several hours since breakfast..." Takeshi asked, seeing how Hikari couldn't cheer Satoshi up. Although he didn't say anything, Satoshi's stomach growled out loud, easing the tension.

After the group ate lunch, Hikari and Satoshi had the battle that Hikari 'promised' and the result was Satoshi's victory. Single battles, but Satoshi couldn't use any of his Sinnoh Pokemon (Hikari wanted to see what his other Pokemon could do). Against Piplup, Satoshi used Kingler, against Pachirisu, he used Cyndaquil, against Buneary, he used Bulbasaur, and against Buizel, he used Snorlax. Piplup fell quickly against Kingler's massive Crabhammer, Pachirisu fell against Cyndaquil's Flamethrower, Buneary was able to stall Bulbasaur using Ice Beam, but fell against its Solarbeam, and Buizel fell against Snorlax's massive Body Slam. Meanwhile, on top of a tall tree, some Pokemon floated, watching the battle...

"Well, that was a good battle. Your Pokemon did pretty good, Hikari." said Satoshi after all of Hikari's Pokemon have been healed at the lab. It was evident that Satoshi was now feeling much better, but Hikari felt worse inside. Her Pokemon didn't stand a chance against Satoshi's. She put on a fake smile and congratulated him for the victory. Satoshi didn't notice the fake smile so he continued bragging about of his past experiences with all of his other Pokemon that he didn't use and what they're capable of doing.

It was getting pretty dark now, so the group prepared to leave for Satoshi's house when they heard a rustling of leaves nearby. The group just thought that it was one of Satoshi's Pokemon so they ignored it. Takeshi left for Satoshi's house first, so that he can help prepare dinner with Satoshi's mother. When he left, Takeshi accidentally forgot his backpack, so Hikari was holding it. Hikari and Satoshi were both about to leave when they heard another rustle. Satoshi was on alert and was about to pounce on whatever that was making the noise, when a Pokemon flew out of the bushes and right into him. It was a wild Celebi! Hikari quickly tried to check her Pokedex for information about the small green fairy, when it started to glow. All of a sudden, the green aura that it was enveloped in grew bigger, consuming both Hikari and Satoshi. When the aura faded, all that was left was Hikari's pink Pokedex...


	4. Chapter 3: Dawn of the Old Days

Chapter 3: Dawn of the Old Days. (Former Title: The Great Journey Through the Past.)

Hikari woke up the next morning in a completely different environment. She didn't see Prof. Oak's lab anymore, but saw hundreds of tall trees surrounding her. She checked her Poketch for the time and noticed at it was now 8 am; she was unconscious for about 12 hours. She ran her hand over her hair to see if her hair has been messed up. After confirming that nothing bad happened, she looked over and found Satoshi lying on the ground, sleeping. Hikari walked over to him and shook him by the shoulders to wake him up.

"Come on, wake up! You were asleep for...AH!!" she was interrupted by Satoshi sitting up quickly, slamming his head into her head again. "OW! What's the Hell is wrong with you? You almost broke my forehead again!" Hikari yelled, rubbing her forehead with her hands. "Hey, do you know where we are?" she asked, once she remembered what happened.

"I don't know, but I do know what happened to us." Satoshi replied, with a grave look on his face. "The Pokemon that we saw was a Celebi, known for its ability to travel through time. I think that we are in a different time, past probably, from the looks of our location..."

"WHAT!? We're in a different time? How do we go back?" Hikari asked, she was starting to freak out.

"The only way for us to return to our own time is to find the Celebi that took us here, and ask it to send us back. I've seen it happen before. Long time ago, I met a trainer named Sam, and he came from the past. Eventually, when the Celebi decided to go back, it took him with it. So, if we find the Celebi, we can go back to our own time." Satoshi explained. "Well, last time, Celebi always hung around at a forest near a lake. So, all we have to do, is find that lake."

Satoshi began climbing the tallest tree so that he could have a look around. Hikari looked up at him fearlessly climbing the tree and thought to herself. 'He's so brave. One little mistake up in that tree could kill him, and he's still not afraid...Wait... what am I thinking?' She managed to shake the thought away, but couldn't help her cheeks from blushing.

To avoid thinking about Satoshi, Hikari began to mark which way is North, using the sun's movement. 15 minutes later, she marked on the ground which direction is North, East, West and South. By this time, Satoshi came back down and told her that they have to travel South if they are going to reach the lake. They began to check Takeshi's bag (which Hikari was holding) for equipment that they could use. They found a cooking pot, a multi-purpose knife, some water bottles, several medical equipments, and some cooking ingredients and tools such as dishes and cups.

After checking the items, Satoshi took the knife and took the role of the cook. They walked for several hours Southwards, with Satoshi leading the way. The sunlight was strong, and Hikari couldn't stand it anymore. She called for a break, telling Satoshi that they have walked for 5 hours. Satoshi began making lunch, using all the cooking ingredients he thought he saw Takeshi use. Meanwhile, Hikari was looking up at the sky while wondering if she and Satoshi could return to their own time safely and return in time for her birthday. It was 2 days away. She snapped back into reality when Satoshi told her that lunch was ready. He didn't seem to happy with what he made though. Hikari noticed that Satoshi was eagerly looking at her, waiting to hear how his cooking was. She took a bite out of whatever he made, chewed it for a while before swallowing.

"Well, how is it?" Satoshi asked, looking into Hikari's sapphire blue eyes.

"Wow, this is pretty good. I never realized that you were such a good cook," she replied. Her inside seemed to be twisting as she spoke. It was the most horrifying thing she ever ate, but she didn't want to offend him, so she put on another fake smile and kept on lying that it was good.

_'Ugh... It's horrible... I hope that I don't have to eat it again.'_ she thought to herself. "Hey, Satoshi, could you make something else next time? I want to see if you can make another meal that is even better than this one." she asked, hoping that the next meal won't be so crappy.

"Uh... Sure! I might have to think of a recipe though..." he replied while packing everything.

_'Great... So the next thing that he'll make is going to be worse than this...'_ she thought. She took a sip of water to drain out the awful taste from her mouth. She and Satoshi began walking South again (Hikari marked the ground after checking again) until they ran into a berry tree. Hikari ate one berry and so did Satoshi. They both agreed that this berry was great and started to pick them, storing them in the bag. They continued to walk for a few hours until the sun started to set. Satoshi looked at Hikari, who was busy looking at the pretty sunset, and noticed that Hikari looked very pretty in the orange sunlight.

_'Wow...I've never noticed that she was so pretty before...I don't know why I didn't notice this before...'_ he thought. He quickly shook off the thoughts and continued to walk South, to avoid embarrassment from Hikari if he was caught staring at her; she soon followed him South. They continued walking until they found another berry tree. It was getting pretty dark now, so Satoshi decided to camp there.

"Wait, we don't have any sleeping bags...so where do we sleep?" Satoshi asked, after he made a small fire for warmth. Hikari thought for a while, and suggested that they just sleep on the grass, using the large leaves as a blanket. Satoshi had no other ideas, so he agreed.

"Good night. Satoshi." she said in a tired voice after she made her 'bed.'

"Good night. Hikari." he replied, also in a tired voice after he made his 'bed.'

He couldn't sleep though. He began to think about Hikari and what made him stare at her for such a long time. After a few minutes, he heard Hikari mumble something about her hat. _'Oh yeah... her hat... why did I pull that prank? Her hat's burned now and she hates having her clothes ruined...'_ he thought, before slowly falling asleep.


	5. Chapter 4: Dreams

Chapter 4: Dreams: Random Brainwave Signals, Hidden Thoughts, and Hints of the Future. (Former Title: The Wild Pokemon.)

Hikari felt something strange the next day which made her wake up. She opened her eyes and saw Satoshi standing above her. She wondered what was wrong, but before she could say anything, Satoshi grabbed her by the throat and picked her up and held her over his head. Hikari couldn't breathe.

"Wh...what are you...d...doing?" she choked out. Instead of replying, Satoshi punched her in the stomach, creating more problems for her to breathe. She choked and struggled desperately to get some air into her lungs. All of a sudden, Satoshi threw her, slamming her down on the ground hard. She groaned in pain as she saw Satoshi walk towards her. She was able to see Satoshi swing his foot towards her face before she closed her eyes.

She braced herself, expecting a very painful blow. However, the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see her still in her 'bed,' Satoshi near her, still asleep. She ran a quick scan over the areas Satoshi hit her and found no bruises. She closed her eyes and started to think over what happened. _'Hmm...Satoshi would never do such a thing against anyone, especially his friends...So it was all a dream? It was so real...oh well. Dreams are just illusions that the brain makes when it's asleep.'_ She told herself that is was a dream and sat up. She looked at her clothes and found them all messed up.

She quickly stood up and desperately tried to straighten them out but had no effect. Sighing, she checked her hair; it wasn't that messed, but messed nonetheless. She reached for her bag for her Piplup but remembered that her bag itself and all of her Pokemon were at Prof. Oak's lab. Sighing, she did the best she could with her hands and actually managed to fix her hair a bit. She then ate some fresh berries as her breakfast. Noticing that Satoshi was still asleep, she began to pick berries for him. She gathered all of the picked berries and put them in a dish and put it near Takeshi's bag. She then leaned on a tree somewhat near by and continued to try to fix her hair.

Satoshi suddenly woke up because he felt something sharp and hard under his head. Satoshi picked it up and opened one eye to examine it. It was a small rock. Satoshi threw it into some thick trees far away and looked around. Hikari was standing about 20 meters away, trying to fix her hair. Satoshi smiled, and tried to go back to sleep.

He suddenly woke up about a minute later because he heard Hikari scream. He jumped up and looked at where she was standing, wondering what happened. He was shocked to see Hikari lying on the ground, desperately trying to crawl away from something. He looked at the thing that was threatening her carefully; it was a wild Scyther. Hikari was trying to crawl away from the Scyther as it swung its scythes wildly, trying to kill her. The Scyther had already hit her leg with a Fury Cutter, and was trying to finish her off.

"HEY!!! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!!!" Satoshi roared angrily while running as fast as he could towards her. However, it was too late. By the time he was close enough to do anything, some of the random Slashes by the Scyther hit her in several places. She screamed in pain as the sharp blades penetrated her flesh. Satoshi picked up a rock and threw it hard against the Scyther, and picked up a long wooden stick and started to swing it wildly. The Scyther, seemingly intimidated by the crazy actions, turned around and silently disappeared into the forest.

Satoshi dropped the stick and kneeled beside Hikari to check her. She had been stabbed in the stomach by a random thrust, and had been deeply cut in several places by its Slashes. Satoshi held her in his arms, holding her head in his hands. Her blood was streaming down her legs, dying her shoes.

"Hikari! Oh no..."

"Sat...osh...i..." Hikari gasped, coughing up blood as she spoke. "It…it's…too…late…f..for...me...Wh...when...you...re...turn...home, t...take.. ...good...c...care...of...m...my...Pok...emon..."

"NO! NO! Don't you start talking like that! Don't you die on me! Damn it! You are going to be fine! It's just a scratch!" Satoshi was now beginning to cry. Tears were forming in Hikari's sapphire blue eyes as well.

"I...I'm... s...sorry...Sat...osh...i...th...this...is...good...bye...I...I...love...y...you..." Hikari managed to gasp out her last words before she gave out a long silent sigh. Her limbs went limp and slowly closed her eyes.

"No...NO...NO!" Satoshi yelled; tears were streaming down his face. "Damn it! You can't die!" He closed his eyes and hugged the limp body of Hikari and kissed her on the forehead. He checked her pulse to see if she at least had a chance to live. Nothing...Her body was starting to turn cold... Satoshi yelled at the top of his lungs in disbelief.

He suddenly woke up, opened his eyes, and sat up as quick as possible. He seemed to have woke up from his own shouts in his dream. He quickly looked around and saw Hikari leaning against a tree, trying to straighten out her hair. _'It was all a dream...but it felt so real...and does Hikari really love me? Was it just a dream, or something...more?'_ His heart was still racing and he was hyperventilating. He also noticed that his cheeks were wet from tears. He quickly wiped them off and lied back down from relief that Hikari was alive and nothing happened to her. Satoshi accidentally hit his head on something hard and sharp; a rock. He picked it up and threw it into a thick forest and realized something right after. What he just did was what happened in the dream! Hikari was leaning against the same tree doing the same actions, and Satoshi did the same action as in the dream by hitting the rock and throwing it away! Having thought this, he sprang up and started to run towards where Hikari was standing.

Suddenly, Hikari turned around and started to scream. The Scyther that attacked her in Satoshi's dream was trying to attack her for real. Desperately backing away, she tripped over a large tree root, while Scyther still advanced. Unlike the dream, Satoshi was right beside her this time, when Hikari fell. He lunged at the Scyther with the knife he found in Takeshi's bag. Hikari scrambled backwards into a safe distance, while Satoshi and the wild Scyther fought. Hikari was extremely worried about Satoshi's well being, since it was obvious that he didn't stand a chance against the Pokemon. The Scyther had an advantage in attack, defense, speed, agility, reaction, and endurance.

Satoshi dropped the knife that he was holding after he was sent back by Scyther's Quick Attack. Satoshi sprang back up and ran towards Hikari, protecting her. He helped her up and tried to run away, but the Scyther was way too fast. It swung its right scythe, attempting a Slash attack on Hikari.

"THE HELL YOU DO!" Satoshi roared before he spun around, embracing Hikari.

Doing so, Satoshi took the blow with his back, and gave a sharp exhale before falling forwards, taking Hikari down with him. Hikari tried desperately to wake Satoshi up, but found no avail. She tried crawling away, but she knew that she couldn't get far before the Scyther got her, and she couldn't leave her friend who just saved her life seemingly with the cost of his own.

The Scyther moved closer, raising its scythe for the final blow, when it suddenly looked up, sensing something. It looked around, trying to see what it was sensing. All of a sudden, a blizzard blew, covering everything with snow. Hikari wasn't affected much by it, since Satoshi was lying on top of her. Thanks to the sudden blizzard, which kept blowing, the Scyther ran off, shocked at the sudden weather change.

Hikari pushed Satoshi carefully off of her and crawled towards Takeshi's bag. She remembered finding some medical stuff in the bag. The temperature was quite below freezing, but she didn't care at the moment. She grabbed the bag and pulled out the medical equipments. She took Satoshi's vest off of him and rolled up the back of his shirt, revealing the wound. There was a lot of blood on his back, which stained his clothes. The blood was starting to get on Hikari's bare legs and her bare arms. Luckily, the cut wasn't very deep, so she cleaned it with some water (from water bottles) and started to apply antiseptic on it. Hikari's lips were turning blue and her vision was fading away in the cold, but she ignored it and continued. She completed bandaging the wound, put his vest back on him and rolled him over. She wiped off his blood from her bare arms and legs with leaves and looked at him. She was starting to tremble, mainly due to the below freezing temperature which probably will give her hypothermia, but also because of the fear of watching Satoshi die while knowing that she couldn't do anything to help. Her sapphire blue eyes started to water as she looked at Satoshi's limp body. But all her worries and fears disappeared when she saw Satoshi's hand starting to move. Sighing in relief, Hikari crept closer and shook him. Satoshi snapped open his eyes, and (for the third time) sat up really quickly, slamming his head against her's. She didn't care at the moment, though; she was just glad to see Satoshi alive and well.

"Satoshi! You're alive!" she exclaimed. Tears were falling from her eyes, this time, from joy and relief.

"What happened?" Satoshi asked, rubbing his back. His face turned grave when he felt a big cut through his vest, indicating that he was wounded by the Scyther that he fought. He also appeared shocked to find Hikari crying, with her lips turned blue, skin turned pale, and trembling.

"That Scyther hit you in the back with its Slash attack. You fell on me, so I couldn't run away, when this blizzard started to blow. The Scyther ran off, and I took the time to take care of you. It was the least I could do; after all, you saved my life!" she quickly explained.

"Where did that Scyther come from?" he asked.

"Over there," she pointed.

"Oh. That's why it was attacking us. I threw a rock that hit my head over there, and the Scyther must have been hit by it." he told her.

"Oh. So as long as we don't bother any Pokemon, they're not going to attack us."

Suddenly, after one strong wind, the blizzard stopped. In fact, the sunlight seemed to have become stronger. The snow on the ground started to melt, and Hikari's lips was turning back into its ruby pink color. Satoshi looked at her and started to think.

_'She went through all that trouble to help me...I didn't know that she even knew how to treat injuries...Maybe she does like me, like my dream showed me...I owe her a lot...her birthday is a day away, so I have to make it up to her tomorrow...'_

Satoshi and Hikari hugged, stood up, and started to walk South, like they planned before (after eating the fresh berries). They eventually stopped to eat lunch from an apple tree, took a break, then continued South. An hour later, Hikari suddenly stopped walking and collapsed on the ground. She must have been exhausted still, from the previous events. Startled, Satoshi picked her up, and started to carry her. Hikari looked at him in surprise and started to complain, but Satoshi hushed her up and continued walking, holding Hikari in his arms. Her body was light and soft, making her easy to carry around. She tried to look as if she didn't like it, but couldn't help closing her eyes and lean against his shoulder.

_'Well, I guess this pays her back for earlier today...she's so beautiful when she's sleeping. Wait, is she sleeping? Better keep my eyes and mind on the road. I don't want to wake her up by tripping or anything like that...'_ Satoshi thought as he kept walking.

Hikari opened her eyes and looked at Satoshi. He didn't appear to be tired, although it has been several hours since he started to carry her. _'Wow...he's still not tired? He's so strong! Or wait...is this about earlier today? He appeared to be in deep thought when I told him what happened...Maybe he...likes me? Ah, what am I thinking? Wait...he hit me earlier today..didn't he! Is that why I'm drowsy?'_ She cleared her mind of her deep thoughts about Satoshi and closed her eyes again.

Another hour had passed. The sun started to set, shooting bright orange light everywhere. Satoshi once again marveled at Hikari's beauty in the sunset before setting her down on the grass under a large tree. She was sound asleep. Satoshi made a small fire for warmth during sleep and set up his 'bed' after covering Hikari with large leaves. He fell asleep while keeping the knife (recovered it after eating breakfast) and a long wooden stick near by (recently picked up).


	6. Chapter 5: Birthday Poison

Chapter 5: Birthday Poison. (Former Title: The Birthday Curse.)

Hikari opened her eyes in the next morning and found herself lying under a large tree. She pinched herself to check if she was having another dream or not. Concluding that she isn't dreaming, she got up and silently wished herself a happy birthday. Again, she tried to straighten out her clothes but found no avail. She then tried to fix her hair (which has been messed up severely) with her fingers but couldn't do much. After some thinking, she poured herself a cup full of water, and she used it to fix her hair. Seeing how there were no berries left, she shuddered at the thought of having to eat Satoshi's cooking.

_'Crap. I'm going to have to eat whatever Satoshi cooks...Unless...if I make him this breakfast, I won't have to suffer!'_ Having thought this, she put the pot full of water over the fire and began to make breakfast.

Satoshi opened his eyes and looked around. He smacked himself to see if he was dreaming. Having concluded that he wasn't dreaming, he began to wonder how much more he and Hikari were going to have to walk. He stood up and began climbing another tall tree. He looked South, where the lake was. He was glad to see that he and Hikari only had to travel through a small forest, a thick and long river, then a large open field before they arrive at the lake. Excitedly, he climbed back down and ran towards where Hikari was to tell her the news.

"Really? We can go home soon?" she asked him once he told her his findings. "Wow...home at last...Well, that's then. For now, try the food I just made. There weren't much ingredients left, so I had to use all of the remaining ones." she said, giving Satoshi a dish with some food on it. Without thinking, Satoshi stuffed all the food in his mouth, chewed a bit, then swallowed. Just then, his face had a look of horror for a brief moment, which Hikari noticed. "Why? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh crap! That had to be the worse thing I have ever eaten! What the Hell did you do to it? Aww.. I can't get the horrible flavor out of my mouth!" he exclaimed, much to Hikari's disappointment. He got up, ran to a near by tree and hurled up some of the things he just ate.

Hikari's face turned red from anger. _'How rude! At least I didn't say anything bad about his cooking. And I certainly didn't throw up after I ate his horrible food.'_ she thought to herself. She stood up and argued back. "How could you say such a thing? Your cooking is not any better than mine! At least I didn't say that your cooking was horrible! And at least I didn't throw up right after!"

"That's your problem! For me, whenever something sucks, I say that it does. If it doesn't I don't say anything! Damn it, are you stupid, calling this food?" he yelled back. Hikari couldn't reply; she was so angry that she couldn't think of a way to argue back. She just crossed her arms and turned her back on him. Hikari tried desperately not to cry, but couldn't help trembling as tears formed in her eyes and started to fall. Satoshi looked at her, first angrily; then sadly, as he started to remember what he said and what day it was. It was her birthday and already he managed to make her cry by insulting her in ways that she really hates. It was obvious that she was seriously hurt. He wanted to apologize, but was afraid of Hikari's unstable condition. Before he could make his mind, Hikari started to walk South, first at a slow pace, but gradually getting faster. Satoshi soon followed (after packing up), but walked at a pace so that he walked behind her.

They walked for hours and Satoshi still couldn't apologize. Hikari stopped crying by then, but still appeared to be very angry. Making up his mind, Satoshi ran until he caught up to her.

"Hey Hikari? Listen, I'm..."he started to say, when Hikari quickly interrupted. "Sure. You're sorry. That's what you always do. Insult me then right back to apologizing. You do it so much that your apologies lost all meaning!" she argued, still in a quivering voice. Her tone seemed to say that she can never forgive Satoshi for what he did. She avoided all eye contact, as if she was afraid to let his brown eyes see her sapphire blue eyes as tears began to form again. "Everything I've done was for you..." she sobbed, as she continued walking South with Satoshi following.

Several hours passed again, and still no words have been said between Hikari and Satoshi. They had skipped lunch (for obvious reasons) and apparently, they were going to skip dinner as well (the sun was beginning to set). All of a sudden, Hikari stopped walking and sat down by a large tree. Satoshi did too, but sat down by a different tree, afraid of her reaction if he tried to sit by her. He sat down and accidentally bumped his head on a Weedle that was climbing the tree. He didn't seem to notice it though, so he sat there, sadly looking at Hikari as she buried her head into her arms. Suddenly, he heard some buzzing noises from above his head and looked up.

"Oh crap! A Beedrill!" he shouted out of surprise. He got up and started to run South as fast as could. The Beedrill (not a very big one, thankfully) started to chase him. He kept on running until he saw a small rock come flying and hit the Beedrill on the head (that happened when Satoshi was looking back, over his shoulder). The bug Pokemon turned around and began chasing whoever threw that rock. Satoshi turned around and saw Hikari luring the Beedrill into a small forest. 'Damn it, what is she doing? She'll be seriously hurt if that Beedrill catches up!' he thought as he helplessly watched the chase.

He slowly started to chase after the Beedrill, staying out of sight. The Beedrill's two stingers (on each forearm) started to glow as it continued its chase. Satoshi looked in horror as he saw the Beedrill use Pin Missile. The large needles flew, all missing Hikari. The Beedrill kept firing the Pin Missiles at its moving target. But then, some of the large pins that were randomly fired flew towards her, piercing the flesh of her left thigh while disintegrating. Hikari gasped in pain as 7 pins struck the back of her left thigh, causing her to fall down while running.

It was beginning to rain. The Beedrill flew towards Hikari, who was still kneeling on the ground, unable to get up. Her left leg was in a bad condition; it was bleeding, for one thing, and she couldn't move her left leg at all. The Beedrill flew past her, so that it could see her face, and she could see its face. She could see one of its stingers glow purple; it was about to use Poison Jab. It thrust its stinger towards Hikari's heart, but she moved her body to avoid the attack. Unfortunately, the attack was at a point-blank range, the stinger hit Hikari in the right arm, right below her shoulder. She gasped and screamed in pain as the sharp stinger penetrated her skin. The Beedrill then backed away, then came charging at her again, this time, trying to use Twinneedle. Suddenly, a large bolt of electricity came down near it, scaring it away. Hikari was still conscious, so she dragged her body towards a tree to use it to help her stand up. However, her left leg was wounded and so was her right arm, making it impossible. She gave up on trying to stand so she just sat there, leaning on the tree. But then, Satoshi came out of a near by bush and ran towards her.

He had lost the Beedrill that was chasing Hikari, due to the sudden rainfall (he was distracted), and only managed to find her thanks to her screaming. But by the time he reached her, the Beedrill had already stung her and was fleeing due to the lightening. He ran to her to check her; she seemed to be okay, but her left leg was in no condition to walk or crawl with, and her right arm was bleeding badly. He quickly took off Takeshi's bag and searched through it. After about 2 minutes of searching, he eventually found the medical equipment and pulled out the antiseptic. Hikari twisted and hissed in pain as the antiseptic was applied to her arm. Satoshi hesitated for a moment, as if seeing her in pain was preventing him from continuing. He eventually finished bandaging her arm, so he rolled her over face first, so that he could bandage the wound on the back of her left thigh. While doing so, he accidentally hit Hikari's newly bandaged arm, causing her to groan in pain.

Satoshi looked at the wound hesitantly; it was right below her skirt. He quickly shook off the thoughts and applied antiseptic on it, then quickly bandaged it. Satoshi carried Hikari on his arms again and he ran until he found a patch of grass under a large tree which appeared to be dry. He lay her down carefully, not wanting to irritate her injuries. He took off his vest and placed in on top of Hikari, who passed out by then from exhaustion, and lay near her, slowly falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 6: Recovery Road

Chapter 6: Recovery Road. (Former Title: A Poisoned Life.)

The sun rose (rain stopped by then), shooting bright light everywhere; one of the light rays struck Satoshi's face, awakening him. He looked around and was shocked to see Hikari still sleeping. _'Huh? She's always awake by the time I am. Hmmm... she must be very tired still.'_ He took his vest back and looked around, trying to find berry trees; he had skipped the last lunch and supper. He found one (Pecha Berry tree) so he ran towards it and ate some. He picked some and stored them in Takeshi's bag. To check for directions, he climbed up another tree and examined the area. All they had to do now was crossing the large river, then walking through an open field. He stayed up there for a while, enjoying the view, before climbing down. He noticed that Hikari was still sleeping, so he approached to wake her up. He then noticed something wrong: it looked as if she wasn't breathing.

Startled, he shook her; nothing. Desperate, he poked her right arm, which was stung by the Beedrill; nothing. He poured a cup full of water on her face. This seemed to have little effect, as she managed to open one eye and looked at him. Satoshi sighed in relief and helped her get up. He gave her a long wooden stick for her to use as a crutch. With it, she managed to stand up, but couldn't gain balance. Satoshi helped her gain balance and carefully helped her walk.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she whispered; it seemed like that she didn't have any energy to talk.

"Hey, I'm sorry about yesterday. I really am. I said some things that I know hurt you even though I knew that it was your birthday yesterday. Can you ever forgive me?"

"You knew it was my birthday yesterday? How?" She asked weakly, surprised.

"I asked your mother what day it was so that I could surprise you. The reason why we came to Pallet Town this week was so that we could hold a surprise party for you. But it's all ruined now..."

"Thanks... That means a lot to me." she replied, smiling faintly. _'If he chose to postpone his Sinnoh Gym battles just so that he could give me a surprise party...does that mean...he really likes me? He doesn't seem like the kind to hold surprise parties...'_

"But why did you lure that Beedrill away from me? I thought you really hated me..."

"Well, what happened yesterday was just a fight, which doesn't last long...What I did yesterday was for you, and..." she started to blush as she almost told him her feelings. Satoshi noticed her blushing, so he stopped asking.

Satoshi and Hikari continued South, heading towards the river. About an hour later, Satoshi turned around to see Hikari.

"Hikari, how are you feeling now?" he asked.

"..."

"Uh... Hikari? Are you okay?" he asked, a bit worried from the silence.

She gave him a weak smile before collapsing on the ground.

"Hikari!" Satoshi called, startled.

He kneeled beside her and rolled her body so that he could see her face. He tried to wake her up, but nothing. He realized that she wasn't breathing at all. Becoming desperate, he checked for her pulse; he could feel something, but barely. Shocked, he started to panic; he didn't know what to do. He mentally went over any and all injuries Hikari sustained; then it hit him.

_'The Beedrill! It hit her with Poison Jab! Damn it, so she's poisoned? How do I cure her? Oh wait! The Pecha Berries! It's sweet flavor neutralizes poison!'_ he quickly pulled out one and held it near Hikari's lips. There was no response from her. _'Crap. Now what...'_ Satoshi was beyond being desperate. Thinking, he cut the berry into little pieces and forcefully opened Hikari's mouth. Holding her head in his arm, Satoshi put one piece inside Hikari's mouth, and pushed her bottom jaw up then pulled it down to simulate chewing. He then pinched her nose and held her head up so the berry pieces went down her throat. He repeated the process several times until an entire berry was consumed. He then lay her down on the grass and watched her. Several hours passed and Satoshi still remained in his position, watching Hikari.

_'No...you can't...you're so close to returning home...just hold on...'_ he thought as he leaned closer and moved his hand over her face. _'Wait... is she... Yes! She's breathing! She's alive!'_ Satoshi thought in relief, as he felt her breath on his hand, indicating that she was breathing. Out of pure relief and exhaustion, he lay down near her and closed his eyes. He was very tired too, and thought that Hikari wouldn't wake up any time soon, so decided to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7: Drowning Hopes of Survival

Chapter 7: Drowning Hopes of Survival. (Former Title: The Flooding Fear.)

Hikari was awake before the sun was up. Her Poketch showed the time to be about 5 am. She looked over at Satoshi, admiringly. He had saved her life twice now, and he seemed to deeply care about her, as he planned a surprise birthday party for her. She smiled as she leaned over to him and kissed him in the cheek. She started to blush now, but this time, she didn't care. She looked at her right arm, where the Beedrill stung her, then felt the area where the Beedrill got her with Pin Missile. Both places were still painful, but not as much as before. She struggled to stand up, using a tree near by for support. She started to practice walking without her 'crutch' because it made her appear pathetic (in her point of view).

After getting used to walking, she walked (more like, limped) over to Satoshi and shook him. This time, he just opened his eyes, and didn't sit up quickly (for once, he avoided head butting Hikari). They both ate breakfast (berries) and started heading South (after checking).

They walked for about half an hour, when they came across a large river.

_'Damn it. Hikari can't swim in her current condition...'_ Satoshi looked around as he thought of a solution. _'Oh wait. Those Bamboo trees!'_ He walked towards the trees and cut them using his knife. He found some vines that he could use to tie them together. Hikari watched as Satoshi struggled to make a raft. She just limped over to him and helped him tie the Bamboo together. Having finished the raft, they ate whatever berry they had for lunch and pushed the raft towards the river. Before the raft actually touched the water, Satoshi lifted up Hikari and set her down on the raft and continued pushing. Thankfully, the water was calm, so the raft didn't go anywhere. Satoshi climbed on and started to row with Takeshi's dishes. Hikari did what she could with her left hand.

They rowed for about an hour. The raft was about 3 quarters through the river, when the water currents became strong. The wind was strong, and it started to rain. The raft managed to reach the other side, so he stood up on the raft and picked up Hikari in his arms.

"Satoshi, you shouldn't stand up on a raft when the water current is strong," she warned.

He didn't seem to listen and moved towards the edge of the raft. The raft was drifting away from the land, shaking violently. Desperate, Satoshi jumped off the raft in an attempt to reach the land. However, he couldn't reach the land, so he threw her with all his strength towards the land. She landed hard on her injured arm, the pain almost knocking her out. She was going to pass out, when the splash made from Satoshi landing woke her up. Satoshi surfaced quickly, extending his arm to reach for the land.

Unfortunately, the raft (moving fast from the current and the wind) rammed against the side of his head, knocking him out. Hikari, seeing Satoshi knocked out, started to panic. Determined to prevent Satoshi from drowning, she dived in after him, ignoring the pain from her wounds when they made contact with water. The water was below freezing, but didn't freeze due to the current. With the help of the current, Hikari reached Satoshi ('floating' under the raft) and grabbed him with her good arm. The current was strong, but desperation and fear of death gave Hikari extra strength she thought she didn't have. She was barely able to reach the land, with Satoshi. She desperately tried to push his unconscious body onto the land, but because he was soaking wet, he was a lot heavier than normal. After using her last strength to push him onto the land, Hikari's vision started to fade away, when a strong water current hit her in the face. She was already beginning to pass out, but with the help of the water current, she did.

She eventually regained consciousness when her forehead was slammed hard into a boulder in the middle of the river (the current pushed her towards it). She quickly resurfaced and got some air into her lungs. Using all her remaining strength, she swam towards the edge of the river and managed to climb out of the water. She took a moment to refresh her mind as she coughed up water. After catching her breath, she started to crawl towards Satoshi, who was still out cold.

Her forehead started to bleed as she crawled but she didn't realize that she was bleeding; she assumed that it was a stream of water. She reached him and started to shake him. He didn't wake up, so she checked his pulse; he was still alive, but just unconscious. She quickly thought the actions that needed to be done in order to wake him up. A thought came across her, which gave her face a deep shade of red.

_'...Do I have to give him mouth to mouth cardiopulmonary resuscitation?'_ she thought, hesitating. She made up her mind: she was going to have to do it. She moved her shaking hand over Satoshi's forehead and pushed it down, while she used to other to hold his chin up, opening the windpipe. Hikari gulped and she removed her hand and pinched his nose. She lowered her head, her lips touching his. She pushed air into his lungs, and started to push his chest down. She repeated the process 5 times, but got no results.

She was starting to panic because Satoshi failed to wake up. Tears started to pour from her sapphire blue eyes, while blood trickled down from her forehead. She thought that Satoshi was gone, but quickly cleared that thought as she kneeled closer to try the cardiopulmonary resuscitation again. She kissed him first, then started to breathe into his lungs. She moved her violently shaking hands over to his chest and tried to push his chest down, when she felt a sudden twitch under her hands. She looked over at Satoshi's face and saw his eyes trying to open.

Quickly, she shook him, trying to help him snap back into reality. Satoshi opened his eyes, while quickly sitting up, crashing his head into Hikari's bleeding forehead (for the fourth time). Her head was close to his, so the impact was stronger than before. Satoshi sat up, coughing up water, as Hikari looked up at the sky, stunned from the sudden impact. Satoshi looked up at her, as she started to fall backwards. Startled, Satoshi grabbed her by the shoulders, accidentally touching her injured arm. This shock woke her up from the state of numbness, causing her to hiss in pain as she looked at Satoshi's brown eyes. Satoshi noticed that Hikari was bleeding from the forehead, blood trickling down to her blue lips; he pointed at her forehead, unable to say anything.

"Huh, wh...what?" she asked, looking at Satoshi's finger pointing at her forehead. She moved her shaking hand and touched her forehead, and hissed in pain as her fingers brushed across a cut. She pulled her finger back, and was surprised to see her blood on her fingers. "AH! I...I'm bl...bleeding! But h...how? From...what? W...was it f...from your... head butt?" she asked, shaking violently.

"Doesn't look like it...Hey, what happened to me?" he asked, rubbing the side of his head, where the raft hit him.

"W...well, you...were out c...cold from...s...something, I...I can't r...remember...an...

anyway...I had to...dive in t...to save you... ...I... pushed you out of th...the water...I d...don't know wh...what happened...everything w...went black...I woke up wh... when I h...hit something...I...climbed out of...the water...you were...still out c...cold, so I...had to..." she stuttered, shivering from the cold. Her cheeks started to blush as she was about to tell him what she did.

"Ohhhh..." Satoshi started to blush too. "Thanks. I know it must have been hard..."

He hugged her, but when his face touched her neck, he noticed something. 'Why _is her skin so cold? Sure the water is cold and the wind is too, but her skin shouldn't be this cold...'_ He pulled back, and observed Hikari's features. Her skin was pale and cold, she was shaking physically, she stuttered when she talked, she seemed to have trouble remembering things, her sapphire blue eyes normally filled with spirit seem to be tired, and her lips were blue. He looked at her, shocked by his findings. _'Oh no...she has hypothermia...Oh crap...what do I do?'_

He opened Takeshi's bag, which was soaking wet, and pulled out the medical equipment, but they were all ruined. Satoshi just wiped Hikari's blood off her face with a leaf and stood up. He helped her stand up, and started to walk South, towards the field. Satoshi was very worried about Hikari's condition; she had hypothermia, and he didn't know what to do about it. Because of her condition, he stopped walking and started up the fire. Hikari sat near the fire, shivering while she warmed her cold, wet body. Satoshi was cold too, so he sat right beside her, drying his vest. Once his vest was completely dry and warm, he took it off and put it on Hikari. He then inched over to her, put his arm around her and used his own body heat to help warm her up.

"Wh...what are you d...doing?" she asked weakly, blushing a little from his actions.

"Well, you...you look cold. That's all..." he replied, not daring to tell her that she has hypothermia.

"Thanks..." she replied softly, wrapping her arms around him. His warm embrace felt good to her.

"Here, drink this," he said, as he handed her a cup full of water, "It's heated from the fire. It'll help you warm up."

"Thanks..." she replied softly, releasing him from her grip. She slowly drank the warm water and closed her eyes as the warm water traveled through her body. Satoshi looked at her, examining her condition again. Her lips were beginning to regain their ruby red hue, her skin was normal, her sapphire blue eyes still appeared tired, she stuttered less when she talked, she was still shaking a lot, and she seemed to have regained some of her memory. He sighed in relief as the symptoms of hypothermia slowly disappeared.

"Hey, what happened to your forehead, anyways?" Satoshi asked, noticing that it stopped bleeding.

"Oh. I think the c...current pushed me into a b...boulder, and I crashed head f...first, I guess." she replied after she finished her drink.

"Hey, thanks again for the CPR." he said as he embraced her again. Hikari closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth provided by Satoshi's embrace. She slowly fell asleep in his arms, but Satoshi didn't sleep. He just watched her fall asleep in his arms, and started to blush as a thought came across his head. He kissed her in the cheek, silently whispering "I love you..." He blushed again, and gently rested his head on top of hers, watching the fire crackle. Hikari smiled, as she wasn't sleeping when he kissed her and whispered his thought.

_'I knew it...he does like me...should I tell him how I feel? ...' she thought, as she slowly drifted asleep._


	9. Chapter 8: Once Again with Feelings

Chapter 8: Once Again with Feelings. (Former Title: Walking Nightmare.)

Satoshi gently placed down Hikari on the grass and checked the time on her Poketch. It was still functioning, as it was waterproof to some levels. It showed 4 am. Satoshi, still not wanting to sleep, started up the fire again, as it was starting to die. He put Takeshi's bag near it, trying to dry it.

Several hours passed when Hikari woke up. She got up slowly, and stretched her muscles. She slowly straightened out her hair and clothes. She took off Satoshi's vest and placed it on top of the log where they were sitting the night before.

"Feeling better?" Satoshi asked from behind her.

She gasped in surprise, as she didn't expect Satoshi to be up before her, and she certainly didn't expect him behind her. "Holy crap! You scared the Hell out of me! Whew...yes; I feel much better, thanks." she replied, catching her breath. "Did you sleep well?" she asked, noticing the fatigue on Satoshi's face.

"No. Didn't sleep at all...I just couldn't sleep." he replied, yawning. "Anyway, let's keep moving. We're almost at the forest." _'Hmmm... she doesn't seem to have hypothermia anymore...That's good.'_

They walked South for an hour, but Satoshi kept yawning once every minute.

"Hey, maybe you should take a break before we continue. You look awful." she suggested, worried that Satoshi might collapse from fatigue.

"Maybe you're right. I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes." He replied, lying on the grass.

Hikari looked at him, leaning on a tree. She started to think about possible events to come, when she suddenly heard a voice.

"Ssssssssssssss fight...sssssssssssssssss"

"What the Hell?" she wondered, looking around for the source of the sound. It wasn't Satoshi's voice. _'Who are you...'_ she thought, looking around.

"I'll give you a hint..sssssssssssss...I am a ghost, and I have two big hands, and I love mischief ssssssssss..." the voice replied.

_'Hmmmm... a Pokemon that can read people's minds, also can use telepathy, a ghost type, loves mischief and has two big hands...a Haunter?'_ she thought.

"Yesssssssss...Now I will watch you two fight until one falls..."

"Two? Me and Satoshi? But why? And how? He loves me!" she said, still looking around "There is no purpose in trying to find me. I am a ghost. I am invisible...and can fly through stuff...Anyway, why you ask? I already answered that question...I love mischief...and how? You'll just have to see for yourself..."

All of a sudden, Hikari felt a presence in her head, giving her a serious headache. "AHHH! Get out of my head! I will never fall into your tricks! He will never try to hurt me!" she yelled, clutching her head, calling in agony.

"Hmmm...will he now? Well, you seem to have a stronger mind than he does...in that case..." the Haunter hissed.

All of a sudden, Satoshi jumped up, with his eyes still closed. He slowly opened his eyes, and walked towards Hikari. She looked at him, and noticed that his eyes were red, as if he was affected by Hypnosis.

"Satoshi! Wake up! Don't fall into Haunter's control!"

"No use...Tell you what. Knock him off his feet, then I'll let you both go."

"What! No! I will never hurt him!" she cried, looking at Satoshi's glowing red eyes.

Then, Satoshi thrust his fist at her, punching her in the stomach. Hikari gasped as the fist made contact. She never knew that Satoshi was so strong. She coughed for air, but Satoshi prevented her from getting any, as he started to strangle her. Hikari felt as if she was going to pass out, when she swung her good arm around, smacking Satoshi in the face. He let go of her, shocked from the sudden attack. Hikari dropped to the ground, coughing violently. She quickly rolled out of the way, as Satoshi stomped the ground where she was a second ago. She quickly pulled a giant branch, bending it. Satoshi advanced towards her, not noticing her trap. She let go of the branch, which flew and smacked Satoshi in the face. Out of force, he was knocked off his feet.

"Hmmmm...You're obviously way smarter than him..." the Haunter hissed.

Hikari quickly ran towards him, worrying if she hurt him. Satoshi jumped up, and glared at Hikari. He put both his hands on her shoulders, as if about to embrace her. This made her relax a little, but she gasped again, as this time, Satoshi rammed his knee into her stomach. She gasped for air again, but Satoshi still didn't allow that, as he started to choke her from behind her. Quickly, she jumped up, and pushed her head back as fast as possible, making contact with Satoshi's bottom jaw. Again, Satoshi released her, and rubbed his jaw with his hand.

Hikari started to bleed from her mouth, indicating that she received some internal injuries. "I thought you were going to let us go!" She managed to yell while coughing up blood and gasping for air.

"I lied sssssss" the Haunter hissed, seemingly taunting her.

Satoshi came up to her and grasped her throat with one of his hands, while using the other to punch her in the injured arm. Hikari yelped in pain and tears started to stream down her eyes. She started to believe that the only way to get out of his situation was for one of the two to die. Hikari was slowly raised above the ground as Satoshi continued to choke her. Desperate, she thrust her good leg forward, ramming her knee into Satoshi's chest. Again, he released her, out of shock.

Hikari started to run away, but suddenly felt an extremely sharp pain on her injured leg. She screamed as she fell on the ground. She reached down to see what hit her in the back of her left thigh. She moaned as her hand pulled out whatever was stuck in her leg. She looked at it; on her bloody hand, was Takeshi's knife which Satoshi had in his pocket. She quickly buried the knife into the ground, as she didn't want to die as much as she didn't want to hurt Satoshi.

For the third time, Satoshi punched Hikari in the stomach, causing her to cough more blood. She felt as if she was going to pass out from frequent punches to her stomach when Satoshi's head came crashing down on her forehead. Satoshi head butted her again, irritating the cut already on her forehead. Her forehead started to bleed again.

_'Is this what my dream several days ago meant?'_ she thought, as Satoshi kept head butting her.

Eventually, he tossed her like a rag doll towards a tree. Gasping at the impact, her mind started to fade away...

Suddenly she yelped, as something fast and sharp came tearing at her back. She looked up at Satoshi with tears streaming down her face; he was standing right beside her, holding a large branch in his hand. He furiously swung his arm, striking Hikari with the branch all over the place. As a finishing blow to his streak of attacks, he kicked her in the ribs, knocking her down to the ground. She was still looking up at him with a desperate look on her face.

"Please...This isn't you, Satoshi! Wake up!" she pleaded. Just then, she saw Satoshi's red glowing eyes flicker, and he hesitated for a moment.

"Huh? What's happened? I couldn't control him..." the Haunter hissed.

Satoshi's eyes were still red, so he was back under the Haunter's control. He reached over and grasped Hikari's throat again. He held her high over his head and glared at her. Hikari began to lose all hope, as she coughed for air under the grasp of Satoshi's strong hand.

She saw his eyes flicker again, and thought of it as her last chance to snap him out. "You...said that...you loved me...yesterday...But it...seems like a...lie now...The Haunter said that...if one of us dies... it will let the other...go...so do what...ever you want...my love for you ...will die...with me..." she cried using her last strength. She didn't make any attempts to break hold of Satoshi's grip. Her tears streamed down her cheek and fell on Satoshi's hand. Her blood from her forehead flowed down past her eyes, to her cheek. The blood from her mouth flowed onto Satoshi's hand, too. Her wound in the back of her left thigh was now bleeding badly because of the knife wound. The blood was already down to her boots.

"...Well, I did say that I'll let you go when one of you falls...I'll let you go now ssssssss..." the Haunter hissed. Satoshi suddenly released his grip on Hikari's throat, dropped his arm at his side and looked straight ahead, with his eyes blank. Hikari dropped on the ground, but she didn't cough for air.

All of a sudden, Satoshi yelled in pain as he felt all the retaliation attacks from Hikari at the same time. His eyes returned to their normal brown color. He looked around, wondering where the sudden pain came from, why he was standing up, and why he had a large branch in his hand. He looked at his other hand, and found traces of tear drops and blood. _'What the Hell? Whose blood is this?'_ he thought, as he checked his body for any injuries. He seemed to have bruises on his face, jaw, and chest, but that was about it. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked around frantically. He remembered something about a Haunter, dying, and love. Then a friendly voice came to him: _'You...said that...you loved me...yesterday...But it...seems like a...lie now...The Haunter said that...if one of us dies... it will let the other...go...so do what...ever you want...my love for you ...will die...with me...'_ He took a step forward, trying to find the girl whose voice just came to him. But when he raised his foot, he felt something heavy on it. He quickly looked down at his foot, wondering what the heavy thing was.

He looked down only to find Hikari's injured body, with her head on Satoshi's foot. Startled (so much that he almost fell backwards), he dropped on the ground and rolled her over so that he could see her face. Her eyes still had traces of tears falling, blood was still on her cheek and chin, her forehead was bleeding, and there were red marks on her neck, indicating that someone strangled her. Shocked, her looked at his hand, and moved it over to Hikari's neck and positioned his hand as if he was strangling her. The tear and blood marks that followed down her face matched the marks on his hand. Shocked, he pulled his hand back and picked her up. He noticed that her leg was bleeding too. He looked where she got hit by the Pin Missile before, and found a mark that appeared to be made by a knife. He quickly reached for his pocket, but he didn't find the knife that he carried. He dropped her on the ground and backed away in shock. _'Oh crap! I killed her! But how? I would never do such a thing! No way...no...what have I done? How could this happen? What do I do now?'_ he thought.

He tried to gather his thoughts, but he was too upset. He ran over to Hikari's body, picked her up and checked her pulse; he could feel something, but barely. He found the knife which Hikari buried when he stepped on something and dug it out. He just put the knife back in his pocket and continued to look for a spot to set Hikari down. He set her down on the grass under a tree, pulled out the water bottles, and poured one on her face. Her blood and tear marks were washed off her face, but nothing else happened. He was a bit relieved when blood started to form on her forehead, indicating that her heart was still functioning. He tried to get her lungs to function again, but he couldn't remember how. Angry at himself for being such an idiot, he tried anything that came up to him. He just shook her by the shoulders before pouring another bottle full of water down her face.

Seeing no results, he just ran South with her body in his arms, in hopes of finding the Celebi that can take them back home.


	10. Chapter 9: The Legendary Battlefield

Chapter 9: The Legendary Battlefield. (Former Title: Sacred Field, Legendary Birds and Legendary Beasts.)

Satoshi ran all night, too upset to eat nor rest. He came across a giant field, with a large lake in the middle. He stopped at the lake, setting Hikari down near the water. He dived in and stood up at the shallow area, wiping all the dirt off of him. He then dragged Hikari's body over, and started to wash off all the blood and dirt off of her. He had also hoped that making contact with the cold water would help her wake up.

The lake was very clean, similar to the Lake of Life in Johto where he met Celebi the first time. He pulled her out of the water and set her down on the grass near the water. She still seemed to be dead, but Satoshi could still feel her pulse, barely. He tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation the way he remembered it. He moved his head over hers, and lowered so that his lips could touch hers. He breathed into her 3 times, then pushed her stomach down, forcing her to exhale. He then poured another bottle full of water down on her face, while shaking her violently by the shoulders.

Getting angry at himself for being unable to revive her, he closed his eyes and slammed his hand down. He accidentally hammered down Hikari's stomach, causing her to exhale even more. Satoshi opened him eyes and thought that he accidentally helped her die, but his thoughts were cleared when he heard Hikari cough. Hikari was coughing violently, coughing up water from the lake which Satoshi poured down on her. Hikari opened her eyes, looking around. When she saw Satoshi right beside her, she jumped, and with whatever strength she had left, she tried to push him over. She couldn't though, as she didn't have any energy left at all. She just looked at his eyes, half-expecting them to be red; but they weren't. Surprised, she tried to touch his face with her hand, but she couldn't lift her arm.

Satoshi on the other hand, was glad that Hikari was alive. He didn't bother stop the tears from flowing down his face as he embraced her. She looked at him for a few seconds, then sighed in relief; he was no longer under the Haunter's control. Satoshi helped her sit up and embraced her tightly again. Hikari hissed as one of Satoshi's arms brushed her injured arm. She tried to hug him back, but since she couldn't move her arms, she just leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek. Surprised, Satoshi's cheeks started to blush, but he ignored it; the moment was just too precious to ruin with thoughts.

"Hikari, y...you're alive! I was so worried...I was really afraid that I killed you...I'm so sorry...How are you feeling?"

"It...hurts when I...breathe..."

"What happened to you?" he asked her. He looked disturbed when he heard what he did to her.

Suddenly, he felt the wind becoming stronger, and started to snow. _'What the Hell is wrong with this place? The weather is out of control!'_ Satoshi thought, as he released Hikari from his embrace and climbed out of the water. He helped her up to her feet, but she couldn't stand on her own, so he carried her on his back. Her arms were resting on Satoshi's shoulders, her legs were wrapped around his waist with his hands supporting them, and her head rested against the back of his neck. Satoshi started to walk South, when he heard a loud screeching sound. Before he could look up, a strong Ice Beam was fired at him, which he managed to dodge barely. He looked up and saw Articuno flying around, firing Ice Beams everywhere.

_'Oh...so that's why the weather's so crazy. Articuno keeps summoning blizzards...'_ Satoshi thought as he started to run South.

"What's...that?" Hikari asked, looking up. "Articuno? Oh crap...Satoshi, leave...me here and run." she whispered.

"What? No! I've done enough horrible things already! No matter what happens, I am not letting go!" he yelled back.

The Articuno fired another Ice Beam at them, but it was interrupted by a Thunderbolt, causing an explosion. The explosion sent Satoshi and Hikari backwards, but Satoshi managed to jump back to his feet and carry Hikari on his arms quickly. They looked up to see Articuno and Zapdos firing at each other with respective attacks. Satoshi kept running, until a sudden Flamethrower flew right in front of him. Satoshi knew that Moltres had arrived, so he just kept running without looking back. The fiery bird Pokemon joined the other 2 legendary bird Pokemon in their clash. The 3 legendary Pokemon stopped fighting, looked at the tainted lake (from Satoshi washing dirt and blood off of himself and Hikari) then dived down towards Satoshi and Hikari.

"Damn it, where's Lugia when you need it!" Satoshi yelled, looking at the 3 birds diving down on them. Suddenly, Articuno and Zapdos stopped diving down, but Moltres started to glow, still diving. "Oh crap. It's using Sky Attack!" Satoshi started to run as fast as his legs could carry him. Moltres was about to make contact when a Hydro Pump stopped it. Satoshi stopped running when he heard a deafening roar. He looked around and cursed at the sight. He saw Raikou front of him, Entei to the left, and Suicune to the right. He gritted his teeth as he watched the beasts run around and the birds fly above him.

_'Wait...I don't remember hearing that Suicune attacks anyone unless it was attacked first...'_ he thought as he watched Suicune calmly look back at him. "Please, Suicune. I'm not here to attack anyone. I'm just trying to go home with a seriously hurt friend. Could you please just let us go in peace?" he pleaded, once he remembered the past experiences with it. Satoshi and Hikari looked at it desperately, waiting for either a friendly roar, or an attack.

Suddenly, they heard a loud screech and the birds dived down on them, firing their respective attacks. Satoshi braced himself for the impact, but the attacks were stopped in midair by Suicune's Hydro Pump. The other 2 beasts looked at Satoshi and Hikari observantly. Having made a decision, Raikou fired a Thunderbolt at the Zapdos, which countered with a Thunderbolt of its own, Entei fired a Flamethrower at Moltres, which countered it using the same move, and Suicune fired an Aurora Beam at Articuno, which countered using Ice Beam. Seeing this, Satoshi assumed that they were allowing him to leave, so he took the time to run South, heading towards the thick forest. Satoshi hoped that the 3 legendary beasts could stall the birds long enough for him and Hikari to successfully find Celebi and escape.

However, the birds had the advantage of flying, so one of the birds decided to chase them, while the other 2 fought the 3 beasts. Satoshi reached the forest about 10 minutes later. The sun was starting to set (means that Satoshi and Hikari starved for about 2 days straight) to the West as Satoshi continued running. Suddenly, a large tree in front of him caught on fire and fell forward, preventing him from continuing. Hikari saw a look of fear come across Satoshi's face when he turned around. Moltres had decided to chase them.

"Satoshi...you have to...keep running! Staying in a...thick forest with...a legendary...fire-type Pokemon...can't end well! Run!" she told him, worried that they might die in the forest fire that was soon to follow. As predicted, the Moltres fired a series of Flamethrowers, burning all the trees that came across their paths. Satoshi ran around in the forest, avoiding the trees as they fell over. Unfortunately, Satoshi tripped over a tree root, accidentally crashing down on Hikari. She had a look of fear on her face as she saw a large tree in front of them catch on fire and started to fall towards them.

Before she could say anything, a Leaf Storm blew in front of them, incinerating the tree that was about to crush them. Satoshi and Hikari looked around, trying to find the source of the attack. Satoshi suddenly got up, picked up Hikari and started to run, shouting in joy. Hikari looked over to the direction which Satoshi was looking at. She saw the Celebi that they were looking for; it was trying to quench the forest fire which the Moltres caused.

Desperate, Satoshi pleaded with it, begging it to take them back to their own time. She didn't know whether it understood what he was trying to say, but a sudden Sky Attack from Moltres caused it to envelop them in a green aura, and right before the impact, Satoshi, Hikari, and Celebi disappeared from the forest...


	11. Chapter 10: The Return

Chapter 10: The Return. (Former Title: Reunion.)

Back in Pallet Town, all of the Pokemon were depressed from the disappearance of their owners. They were all at Prof. Oak's back yard still, seemingly waiting for their owners to return. Takeshi was waiting for Satoshi and Hikari at the lab, also helping around Satoshi's house, since his mother was worried sick.

8 days after the disappearance of its owner and his friend, Pikachu waited at the spot where Satoshi and Hikari were last seen, looking at the sunrise. Suddenly, its ears twitched, indicating that it sensed some foreign movement in the small forest near by. It quickly called over Cyndaquil (the closest Pokemon at the moment) and they moved closer towards the forest. Cyndaquil fired a Flamethrower at the forest while Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt, igniting several trees on fire.

Meanwhile, Hikari woke up when a sudden stream of fire whizzed by her head, burning her hat. She quickly crawled towards Satoshi, who was still sleeping (or unconscious). She forcefully opened Satoshi's eyes, because she didn't have enough strength to shake him. Surprised at the sudden light streaming into his eyes, Satoshi quickly sat up (again), slamming his head into Hikari's forehead, busting open her cut again. The impact stunned her, causing her to fall back down. Satoshi quickly looked around; he saw trees on fire, with streams of electricity and fire flying around them.

"Oh crap! Zapdos is here too!" he yelled, looking at the attacks in panic.

"No...it is not...the attacks are...too weak to...be from...legendary Pokemon..." Hikari said weakly, bleeding from her forehead. "Calm down...and take a look...around. We're not...in the forest...where we were...yesterday..."

Hearing this, Satoshi jumped up, helped Hikari to her feet, then ran out of the forest, seemingly dragging her with him. They were almost out of the forest when a jolt of electricity hit them. It wasn't enough to knock them out, but enough to stun.

Meanwhile, Takeshi walked near Pikachu and Cyndaquil with all of Hikari's Pokemon, wondering what they were attacking. He stared at the forest, where the attacks were headed. Suddenly, two people came running out of the forest, avoiding the Thunderbolts and the Flamethrowers. The Pokemon stopped attacking and looked at the two people with a look of surprise. One of the two was their owner and the other was his friend, who disappeared 8 days ago! Takeshi, Pikachu, Cyndaquil, and all of Hikari's Pokemon all ran towards them, some of the Pokemon crying tears of joy.

Satoshi let go of Hikari's hand and ran towards Pikachu, hugging it, with tears flowing out of his eyes. Hikari started to limp towards her Pokemon, who were all dashing towards her. They all hugged her and she hugged them back, with tears forming in her sapphire blue eyes. Everyone was very happy when Satoshi and Hikari returned, especially Satoshi's mother, who almost strangled him while hugging. Hikari called her mother, who was also very worried, after hearing from Takeshi that she disappeared.

"Hikari! You're back! I was so worried about you!" Hikari's mother cried on the phone. "What happened to you? You're bleeding!" she exclaimed, seeing her daughter's blood flow down her face.

"Oh...it's nothing...just an...accident..." Hikari replied weakly, wiping off the blood with a tissue.

"What's wrong? Why are you talking like that?" her mother asked, noticing the frequent pauses her daughter made while talking.

"I don't...know..." Hikari replied.

"Well, I'm just glad that you're okay. Get some rest. You look very tired. I'll talk to you when you're back to your energetic self. Bye." her mother advised, before she hung up.

Meanwhile, Satoshi told everyone what happened to them, and after he was finished, everyone had a look of worry on their faces.

"Both of you should go to the hospital." Prof. Oak advised. "Look at you. Satoshi, you've been hit by a Scyther's Slash, and you almost drowned! Go to the hospital, rest up there, then you can return to your Sinnoh Gym battles. And Hikari, you really need to go to the hospital." he continued. But before he could continue further, Hikari collapsed on the floor.

Startled, Prof. Oak drove everyone to the hospital, leaving his assistants to keep an eye out for the lab. At the hospital, the doctor ran a series of tests on both Satoshi and Hikari, then wrote down some notes as he heard what happened to them from Prof. Oak.

Many hours later, all of the tests have been completed, so Prof. Oak, Takeshi, and Satoshi's mother entered the room where Satoshi and Hikari were put to bed. Satoshi was awake and looked fine, while Hikari was sleeping with all sorts of machines monitored her status. She was bandaged around her head, her ribs, and her right arm, from what the others could see.

"Well, this young man didn't suffer anything, really. He just has a minor cut on his back with some bruises here and there. He was very lucky that the young lady knew proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation and some medical treatment with wounds. The lack of energy you're feeling, is from lack of food, and will go away once you eat something. The young lady, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky as he was. She's suffering from hypothermia, broken ribs, fractured right arm and forehead, punctured lung, a minor vocal chord damage, and a minor artery damage, as well. It's a wonder that she's alive right now." said the doctor.

"How did she suffer all of those?" Satoshi asked.

"Well, she got hypothermia from being exposed to the below freezing water for several minutes, she got broken ribs from what seems like a kick to the ribs, fractured right arm from the Beedrill's sting, worsened by a punch, apparently, fractured forehead from frequent from what seems like frequent collisions to hard objects, minor vocal chord damage from someone apparently trying to strangle her, minor artery damage from what seems like a knife wound, and a punctured lung from the broken rib." the doctor explained.

"Is she going to recover from all of those?" Satoshi asked again.

"She's not suffering from hypothermia anymore, her broken ribs and fractured bones won't be a problem, the minor artery and vocal chord damage won't be a serious problem, but the punctured lung will be," said the doctor, "well, get some rest, all of you. We'll do everything we can to ensure her recovery."

The doctor sent everyone out of the room, leaving Satoshi and Hikari alone. Satoshi slowly fell asleep, worrying about Hikari's condition.


	12. Chapter 11: The Birthday

Chapter 11: The Birthday. (Former Title: The Postponed Party.)

Satoshi woke up the next day when he heard the doctor enter the room. Satoshi looked over at Hikari; she was awake, and was looking out the window.

"How are you feeling today?" the doctor asked, noticing that Hikari was awake.

"A little better..." Hikari replied, still in a weak voice.

"Can you walk?" the doctor asked again, "you have to go to the emergency room so we can do something about your punctured lung."

Hikari got out of the bed and tried to walk, but she couldn't by herself. The doctor helped her walk out of the room and took her to the emergency room. Satoshi watched as the door slowly closed, but noticed that the door didn't fully close. It started to open again, but he didn't see anyone open it. Suddenly, his Pikachu jumped up onto the bed. All the others entered the room, seeing how Satoshi was awake and Hikari was taken to the emergency room.

"Hey, you're awake. So, how are you feeling?" Satoshi's mother asked.

"Fine, I guess. I mean I wasn't doing bad to begin with," he replied, "but I do feel a little guilty though."

"Why?" Takeshi asked.

"Well, all of the injuries Hikari suffered was...because of me."

"What?" Takeshi asked, surprised.

"Well, she got hypothermia trying to save me from the water, she got poisoned from trying to save me from a Beedrill, and she got the fractured arm from the same Beedrill. 2 days ago, when I was under a Haunter's control, I tried to kill her! From what I remember from Hikari telling me, I threw a knife at her injured leg, I punched her injured arm, I fractured her forehead, I broke some of her ribs, and I tried to strangle her several times. It's because of me she got a punctured lung, too." Satoshi replied grimly.

"Oh… Well, it's not your fault that you fell under Haunter's control and it wasn't your fault that she risked her life to save you. Those were her decisions. Don't worry about her; everything will be fine." Takeshi argued, trying to relieve him.

The others left the room, since Satoshi wanted to change clothes. After changing, Satoshi came out of the room and waited in the waiting room for Hikari to return. 2 hours later, Hikari came back, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by the doctor.

"Well, her punctured lung won't be a problem anymore. She's free to go as long as she doesn't yell next couple of days. If she does, then her vocal chord might take longer to recover," said the doctor. "Take good care now, I don't want you two to return here."

After carefully helping Hikari into the car, everyone left for Pallet Town.

"Hey, want to battle when we arrive at the lab? Double battle this time." Satoshi offered.

"Sure," she replied.

An hour later, they arrived, and Satoshi and Hikari had the promised battle. The first match was between Satoshi's Sceptile and Bulbasaur against Hikari's Buizel and Buneary. The second will be between Satoshi's Charizard, which he called from Charific Valley, and Squirtle, which he also called from Officer Jenny and the Squirtle Squad, against Hikari's Piplup and Pachirisu. Hikari ordered all sorts of combinations such as Aqua Jet mixed with Ice Beam (resulting in a frozen ice block flying towards the opponents) and Water Gun with Ice Beam (frozen stream of water), but Satoshi countered with Vine Whip and Leaf Blade (Vine Whip sent Sceptile flying towards the opponents, avoiding all the attacks) and double Solarbeam combinations to quickly knock out Buizel, then Buneary shortly after. In the second match, Hikari tried to use her Pokemon's type advantage, but Satoshi countered Discharge with Flamethrower, and Bubble Beam with Hydro Pump, then quickly ended the battle with Overheat and Bubble Beam.

After the match ended, Satoshi let Charizard and Squirtle return to the Charific Valley and the Squirtle Squad respectively, while Hikari healed her Pokemon at the lab. Prof. Oak wasn't in the lab (Prof. Oak and Takeshi both went to Satoshi's house), so she got her Pokemon healed by his assistants. Satoshi and Hikari watched their Pokemon play in the back yard until supper time. Hikari called back all her Pokemon, Satoshi called back all his Sinnoh Pokemon, then Satoshi pushed Hikari's wheelchair to Satoshi's house.

When Hikari opened the door and entered the house, all the lights instantly turned on, and everyone jumped up, shouting "Happy Birthday!" Surprised, Hikari jumped from her wheelchair, looking around the house, seeing all sorts of decorations. She looked at Satoshi, who was grinning ear to ear.

"Happy Birthday," he said, smiling at her.

"We've been ready for this for days, but you weren't here, so the party's been postponed. Anyways, happy birthday." Satoshi's mother told her.

Everyone sat at their seats in the dinner table, with a special seat in the middle reserved for Hikari (or her wheelchair). They all ate the special dinner Satoshi's mother had made and happily watched as Hikari blew out the candles (slowly, due to the injured lung) and made her wish and performed all the other birthday stuff.

After the party ended, Prof. Oak returned to his lab, Satoshi's mother started to clean the dishes as Mr. Mime cleaned the floor. Satoshi lifted up Hikari and helped her up the stairs while Takeshi brought the wheelchair.

"Satoshi, …thanks," she said softly, as he carried her upstairs. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek as a sign of gratitude, as Satoshi slowly set her down in the bathroom, so that Hikari can change into her sleeping clothes (Satoshi brought that too). Satoshi waited outside as she changed (she just has trouble walking), his cheeks blushing.

After about 10 minutes, Hikari limped out the door, and towards Satoshi's room, where they were all going to sleep. Satoshi picked her up in his arms and set her down in her sleeping bag, which was still next to his. He then walked into the bathroom so that he could change.

After carefully setting up the pillows so that he can't fall off the bed, Satoshi lied on his bed and watched Hikari as she slowly fell asleep. 30 minutes has passed, but he couldn't sleep. His cheeks were still red from the kiss Hikari gave him. He smiled, knowing that it was inevitable for them to admit their feelings for each other. He wondered if Hikari already knows that he likes her, and if she really likes him back. They were going back to Sinnoh the next day, so Satoshi slowly fell asleep, thinking of the upcoming challenges he was going to face in the Sinnoh League.


End file.
